


Rising Star

by prompt_fills



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Ficlet, Friendship, M/M, Rivalry, Sad, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 18:38:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2662316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prompt_fills/pseuds/prompt_fills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lewis grows up to win.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rising Star

**Author's Note:**

> One of those blink-and-you-miss-it 'slash' stories. Actually, I think it's more gen than anything. And sad, oh yeah, it's definitely no fluff.

Lewis stares with wide eyes at the tumult in the paddock. They are bringing in one of the Minardis. Lewis can’t quite make out which one it is but it doesn’t matter because he is here, just like dad promised. He has the best dad in the world. Even if mummy doesn’t always think so.  
  
He takes in a deep breath through his nose because everything smells fantastic and he wants to imprint the mixture of rubber and fuels into his memory.  
  
“You’re the best, dad,” Lewis says out loud, so dad knows.  
  
His dad smiles down at him and then he jerks his chin toward some other guests in the paddock. “That man out there? That’s Rosberg. He has a son about your age. I hear he’s awful shy.”  
  
Lewis understands what that means. He puts on his best smile and says: “Can we go right over and say hi?”  
  


  
** *** **  


  
  
  
Nico leans over, holding his hand for a fistbump. Lewis obliges him. “That was fantastic!”  
  
“Damn right it was! And I still beat you.” It’s awesome being teammates with Nico. It would be even more awesome if they both got to race with the f1 cars.  
  
“You didn’t finish first so it doesn’t count,” Nico protests.  
  
Lewis’s eyes narrow at the reminder. “It does. I can beat you again anytime I want.”  
  
Nico grins. “Ping pong?”  
  
“Bring it on!”  
  
“Wait, here?” Nico gestures around the hotel room.  
  
Lewis gets up to his feet and taps a coffee table. “This will do.”  
  
“You’re such a bad influence,” Nico snorts, shaking his head.  
  
“Actually no, that’s you.”  
  
Nico takes a flowerpot with a buxus off the table and carries it over to the other side of the room, probably hoping it would be safer there. “Really? Who says that?”  
  
“Dad does.”  
  
They both laugh.  
  


  
** *** **  


  
  
  
“You _what_?!”  
  
Nico flinches and hurriedly gets to his feet. Always running away from their arguments, that is his style. They weren’t arguing now, though.  
  
“Are you serious?” Lewis asks, managing to lower his voice a bit.  
  
“I thought that maybe you... I understand that you don’t...”  
  
Lewis is frowning up at him which probably isn’t helping.  
  
Nico draws in a breath. “It’ll be best if we stop hanging out so much.”  
  
“Okay,” Lewis agrees, “if you think that it will be–”  
  
Nico runs out of the room and slams the door behind him. Lewis stares after him in dismay and thinks that it will be sad without Nico around, always challenging Lewis to push harder and be better.  
  
It’s surprisingly easy, though.  
  
They just go their separate ways and it doesn’t hurt the way Lewis thought it should.  
  
Nico gets into F1 a year sooner but Lewis’ initial envy turns into glee when Nico doesn’t turn out to be the prodigy everyone else wanted him to be.  
  
McLaren lets him race in 2007 and he makes it count. When he meets Nico again, he realizes they’ve changed too much. He thought they’d be the kind of friends who don’t hang out for eternity but hit it off the moment they finally meet again.  
  
They both smile at each other and make jokes but it is more in appreciation of what they have been through rather than what they have now.  
  
In Mercedes, Nico becomes a fond memory but a sore presence.  
  


  
** *** **  


  
  
  
Two days after the second title Lewis feels like he will never be able to fall asleep again. He sneaks out of his room into the hospitality room downstairs, figuring no one would be here this late at night.  
  
He is wrong.  
  
Nico is sitting there, staring into a book in his lap. He doesn’t appear to be really reading it.  
  
Lewis pauses but then he walks over to Nico and sits down next to him. He is just so fucking tired of answering the same stupid questions and Nico sure as hell won’t ask any.  
  
Nico barely glances up from the book he is pretending to read. It’s definitely not in English, Lewis notices.  
  
The TV on the opposite wall is on, showing a re-run of some tennis match. Lewis leans back in his seat and watches. During the commercial break, they skip into brief F1 news and there is an interview with Vivian who does her best to politely escape a herd of journalists. Out of the corner of his eye, Lewis sees Nico paying attention to the screen.  
  
“Can’t believe you married her,” he says, turning to Nico.  
  
Nico flinches. “She’s not used to the flashes the way Nicole is.”  
  
“Still can’t understand why you married her,” Lewis says.  
  
“She’s pregnant,” Nico says flatly.  
  
Something twists in Lewis’ chest. “Well, so you managed to get over me,” Lewis hears himself saying.  
  
Nico gapes at him for a moment. “Yes,” he says eventually, snapping his book close. “I did.” He stands up and leaves Lewis alone in the room. Lewis is still too tired to sleep so he settles to watch the rest of the tennis match with a small smile playing on his lips. So that is what victory feels like.


End file.
